Thursday, January 22, 2015

Something went sideways with my ATL Open registration. It sat in some kind of 'pending' status for 3 days, then my name didn't appear on the list for my division. I have no idea what happened, but I'm kind of annoyed by it.

In better news, I'm up to 4 sets of 10 with 65lbs on all of my lifts, which has me on schedule to be doing 5x5 with my bodyweight by the beginning of summer, and 3x3 with 200lbs by the end of the year.

So if nothing else I'll be in great shape for all of the rest of my competitions this year.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Couple of things going on. I realized I'm walking around at the top of the 151 weight class by being 144-146, so I'm just going to stay where I am. No need for a cut. Second thing is that I'm retuning my Tomoe Nage to give me a better entry and more control over the sweep and the followup. Previously I was coming straight in and sweeping my opponent straight over my head. I ran into problems when my opponent was very agile (Like at Newbreed), and in loosing contact after completing the sweep and diving right into triangle chokes while trying to lock down side control.

I did some chatting with some of my Judo homies and was told that I need to be coming in at an angle, so that my foot is parallel with my opponents belt, not perpendicular. Some further discussion determined that it's also possible to fake Tomoe Nage into X-guard from this execution, and it's easier to drop your opponent into an armbar, AND post sweep you are tighter and already past the legs. Happily we got to drill takedowns today so I got in about 50 reps with the new version and it felt really good.

After that was work on the same DLR sweeps. The sitdown sweep when your opponent goes to one knee to avoid your normal DLR shenanigans and you just make them fall over with your body rotation.
From there you can follow up with the berimbolo, or you can slide across to take mount.

After that we did some 'Fun Friday' cardio work which involved tug-of war, then some crazy game involving trying to pile all of the boxing gloves in the middle of the mats, or in the corners. My team lost, we did sprawls, I was sad.

Next more work from DLR, I didn't feel as fluid with my DLR sweeps this time. I felt like I was not being as aggressive about inverting and not as forceful with the DLR hook as I was on Monday. I need to really dig the hook deep and MAKE my opponent fall over. I also got outscrambled a few times, I need to work on that as well. And finally, I'm still having trouble finishing submissions right now. I need to pick a couple and really zero in on them. Probably the nearside armbar since it combos with my takedown, and then work on transitioning into the single collar choke from more places.

I'm improving for sure, but I still have a lot more work to do.

I'm still hitting the non-BJJ gym a few times a week and running and lifting. My strength should be starting to improve over the next couple of months, but not soon enough to make a real difference for the Atl Open.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

I have been training! But I have not been updating. Mostly because nothing much interesting has happened lately. Just getting in the gym, putting in the work, trying to get to that next level.

This past Saturday I went up to Team Octopus for a Team Traven group training session. Master Traven showed us some very slick foot on hip spider guard transitions into X-guard and to some sweeps if you don't quite make it to X that I liked, but I won't be able to play too much with in the short term since I'm trying to get my game properly put together for the ATL Open at the end of the month.

That means a lot more weight lifting, and a weight cut for the first time in years. I'm walking around at 144 and I want to weigh in at 141 with my Gi on, so I've got a ~7lb drop to hit, which shouldn't be hard.

I'm also refocusing on my guard retention since I think it's weaker than it should be. My passing and top game have improved, but my guard is lagging. Time to step that game back up.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Weight lifting has been going decently well, I'm on 4x10 with 65lbs, which is brutal for upright rows. I'll probably stick at that weight for rows for a couple of extra weeks at let it lag behind. Thanks to hitting the gym and running my cardio didn't take much of a hit over the holidays, so I was back on the mats and feeling strong today.

Technique was sweeps from DLR.

First tech was the overhead sweep. Go to DLR, get collar and sleeve control, load your opponent and send them flying. Easy.

Second tech was a nice push sweep. When you are setting up the overhead sweep if they posture up to break your collar grip you bring the far side foot over to the near hip and push while you extend. Down they go.

Third tech was the 'Kiss of the Dragon' back take. From DLR you go for a deep DLR hook, then insert the front leg behind the opponents near knee, rotate to their back and grab the belt, at this point they are sitting with your shins in the back of their knees, so you just extend and drop them and take back control.

After that cardio was working open guard passes in groups of three, starting from DLR, sweep or pass, winner stays on bottom. I did ok, was working with a blue belt who had GREAT top control, but I had better passing, so we passed each others guard a bunch, I managed like 1 sneaky sweep on him.

Got to roll a couple of rounds, the first one with that same blue belt and his top pressure was just as insane there, as was his grip control. He was too greedy for positions a few times though and I was able to catch him in X-guard and sweep him. Other than that I was on defense almost the whole time.

Second roll was with Chris and his damned unbreakable grips. Good training to start the year with!